SHORT-A-THON!

Short-a-thon is a readathon that is going to take place from 12:00AM December 21st to 11:59PM December 31st. (You can go by your own time zone!)

The goal is simple: to focus on reading the SHORTEST books in your TBR! These can be short stories, novellas, graphic novels, manga—if it’s got a low page count, it works! Of course, our ideas of “short” books will all vary, so go by whatever YOU consider short!

We liked the idea of hosting this readathon for two reasons:
1) It’s unique!
2) BOOST THOSE READING CHALLENGE NUMBERS! Your December end-of-year wrap could look amazing with a big stack of short books thrown on top!

Here’s how you can join in…

Create a TBR in a blog post, tweet, or whatever else you like to use. We recommend making a list of your TEN (10) shortest books!

Leave a comment here or on Kathy’s post with a link to your TBR so she can add you to our official participants list (you can do this any time between now and December 21st).

Use #shortathon18 on social media so we can all find each other and cheer one another one, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @shortathon! We’ll be hosting reading sprints and challenges everyday.

My Short-a-thon TBR & goals:

Instead of making a list of my ten shortest books, I made a massive list of books I own that are under 225 pages, and I’m going to go through them TBR jar style by choosing randomly throughout the readathon! I don’t have a goal besides knocking out as many reads as I possibly can.

1-50 PAGES:

Eitan’s Chord — Shira Glassman

The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant — C. S. Pacat

Love Bites — Magen Cubed

Pet — C. S. Pacat

The Legend of the Golden Raven — K. Ancrum

Throttle — Joe Hill & Stephen King

The Lost Sisters — Holly Black

51-100 PAGES:

We Should All Be Feminists — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Mara — Richard Denney

Sour Candy — Kealan Patrick Burke

Cleaner of Bones — Meg Kassel

Witching Hour Theatre — Jonathan Janz

A Soundless Dawn — Dustin LaValley

Bingo Love — Tee Franklin

I Am Not Your Final Girl — Claire C. Holland

The Green Mile, Pt. 1 — Stephen King

Don’t Call Us Dead — Danez Smith

101-150 PAGES:

Tales from the Darkside — Joe Hill

Unnatural, Vol. 1 — Mirka Andolfo

The Field Guide — Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black

Fence, Vol. 1 — C. S. Pacat

Hammers on Bone — Cassandra Khaw

Mapping the Interior — Stephen Graham Jones

Everything Belongs to the Future — Laurie Penny

Moonstruck, Vol. 1 — Grace Ellis

The Ice Dragon — George R. R. Martin

Fear Nothing, Vol. 1 — Dean Koontz

Kingdom of Needle & Bone — Mira Grant

I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 1 — Skottie Young

The Sea Was a Fair Master — Calvin Demmer

Dream Woods — Patrick Lacey

Spell on Wheels — Kate Leth

Love, and You — Gretchen Gomez

Almost Midnight — Rainbow Rowell

Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You — Scotto Moore

We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson

A Holiday By Gaslight — Mimi Matthews

I Felt Their Teeth in My Bones — Magen Cubed

The Ballad of Black Tom — Victor Lavalle

All Systems Red — Martha Wells

151-200 PAGES:

Twin Lakes: The Autumn Fires — Melissa Lason & Michelle Garza

Dead Lake — Darcy Coates

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall — Mary Downing Hahn

The Refrigerator Monologues — Catherynne M. Valente

The Betrayal — R. L. Stine

Go — Kazuki Kaneshiro

At the Cemetery Gates, Vol. 2 — John Brhel & Joseph Sullivan

River of Teeth — Sarah Gailey

Bygone Badass Broads — Mackenzi Lee

Revenge — Yoko Ogawa

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day — Seanan McGuire

Dust Bath Revival — Marianne Kirby

Haunted Are These Houses — Eddie Generous

Closed for the Season — Mary Downing Hahn

Undertown, Vol. 1 — Jim Pascoe

Coraline: The Graphic Novel — Neil Gaiman

Tales of Terror — Christopher Pike

Damaged Goods — Talia Hibbert

201-225 PAGES:

The Armored Saint — Myke Cole

Amina’s Voice — Hena Khan

The Mortal Instruments, Vol. 1 — Cassandra Clare

In an Absent Dream — Seanan McGuire

Bones — Andrew Cull

Corpse Cold — John Brhel & Joseph Sullivan

Universal Harvester — John Darnielle

Sick House — Jeff Strand

The Woods are Dark — Richard Laymon

Small Spaces — Katherine Arden

Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper — J. L. Bryan

From Scratch — Katrina Jackson

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon — Stephen King

The Witch Boy — Molly Ostertag

Six Stories — Matt Wesolowski

The Haunting of Rookward House — Darcy Coates

How many short books would you like to knock out during Short-a-Thon? Are there any titles immediately coming to mind that you want to read? Do you even like small books?! (We do!)

Please tell me you’re planning on a picture with all of these stacked because I SO want to see what that looks like. Even more so if you put a stack of “regular size” books next to it, just to compare the “normal amount” vs. the “short amount” if you know what I mean? 😛

I wish. 😂 But probably 80% or more of these are ebooks! that said… I will probably pull all of the physical ones and take a photo of those, at least. I KNOW, I’M SO EXCITED. I’m seriously dying for it to get here.

omg yessss this sounds like my ideal readathon!! I’m 100% gonna be taking part. I LOVE short books 😂 from your list I’ve read and loved: We Should All Be Feminists, Moonstruck, The Refrigerator Monologues, Small Spaces and Six Stories !!!

YAY! 😀 I’m so glad you’re excited, that makes me soooo happy! Ooooh, excellent, because literally all of those are titles that I’m especially hoping to get to during the readathon. 😂💖 I’m actually a few chapters into Small Spaces right now, but I left it on the list just in case I don’t finish it by the time it starts.

Yaaaaay! I love it! 😀 Good luck with your reading! I have a few graphic novels here I need to read as well and I’m saving them all for the readathon, plus I might use it as a good excuse to reread the Locke & Key graphic novels.

😂😂 no lie, I had SO much fun making my list. I know my list is honestly waaaay too long but I couldn’t stop. It was originally gonna be everything under 300 pages but that added a good 50+ more books to the list so I said “okay, calm down, Destiny…” bahaha

Many good titles on here, but!! All Systems Red and In An Absent Dream!! I haven’t read the latter but I love that series so much. I still haven’t read Beneath the Sugar Sky, although I finally got a copy at a discount. Good luck on your reading 😀 I’ve heard great things about From Scratch as well and I’m excited about it.

This is such a GREAT idea! I love it so much. I want to participate, but will have to find some short stories first. Hahahaha! I hope you end up reading the Lost Sisters! Really enjoyed that short story. 🙂

Thank you!! I hope you’re able to find some and join us! ☺️ oh awesome, I’m actually thinking about making a list of “must read” stories for the readathon to go along with my random picks. If I do, that one is going on the list for sure!

YAY! 😀 I hope you can! I’m slowly hoarding all of my unread graphic novels for the readathon, plus I just requested a few from the library that I’m hoping won’t come in until right before the readathon starts hah.

The count down is on!! I’m entering at the 11th hour but I’ve been super excited about this for a while!! I picked out 30 potential books to read, but my goal is to read 9 that have been on my TBR for ages or that I’m most excited about this year!